Baby

so I have only just discovered this…. It’s such an amazing concept and so much fun to get it in the post!!! Basically you order a box, put in baby’s details and they post it to you! Box costs £30 approx (cheaper depending on subscription) including delivery and the value is worth over £40. It comes with loads of cool stuff, all geared towards your baby’s age and development.

If you use code SASSY10 you’ll get £10 off too so essentially a half price box. Can’t imagine I’d order too many but really nice to get every couple of months!!!

Like this:

a combination of stopping breastfeeding (no free hand and faster feeding) and going back to work mean I haven’t had any time to post. I genuinely don’t know where the time has gone!!! In the space of a few months MM has joined the sitting, crawling and walking (yes, frightening) parties. Where has my baby gone?

Like this:

Every month MM gets cuter and I love having a baby more and more… Still not worked out whether he is actually getting easier or we are getting more competent (or a bit of both!?) but this month I am in love with the following:
– his beaming smile when he sees his mama
– his beaming smile when he sees his own reflection in the mirror
– generally just his beaming smile
– the way he jibber jabbers all day long and pauses at opportune moments so I can get a word in like a real conversation
– how he says ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ for no other reason than when he does H and I get so excited we clap and cheer him
– the way he puts his arms out for us
– the excited look on his face when he rolls over
– the way he copies everything (we should have really started watching our language as no doubt his first *real* word will be an expletive!)
– how he remembers that all the doors and drawers open and close and will insist on spending at least 10 minutes checking they do indeed still open and close on entering every room in the house
– how he can’t yet sit properly or crawl but insists on ‘walking’ everywhere (my poor back!!)
– how he cackles with delight when we pull funny faces and/or kiss his tummy
– how he likes it when we sing to him and if he likes the song will ‘sing’ along
– how he will be all whingey with us one minute and then suddenly be lovely and attention seeking when we have visitors
– how he’s a perfect excuse not to have to speak to one of those annoying people trying to get you to sign up for stuff in the street as he’s either screaming or sleeping (and if I stop he’ll wake up)
– that his favourite TV show is Tipping Point and I know it’s an hour of silence!
– that he’s the cutest child in existence (obviously not biased!!!)
– he knows how to kiss (well sort of…. When we ask for a kiss he gobs his mouth onto our cheeks!!)

Like this:

Like most people (I am sure) I had millions of ideals about what motherhood was like. These were obviously shattered into a million little pieces when the baby arrived.

In no particular order:

1. I was adamant I was never giving my child a dummy. While they look quite sweet in the mouths of babes sucking away peacefully they look grim on a toddler (or older!) and I’ve heard how difficult it can be to get rid of them in older kids as the dummy fairy is usually required to exchange the dummies for a fairly expensive bribe!
– in reality MM likes to suck and usually falls asleep sucking. When I stopped breastfeeding I realised I needed to somehow replace the sucking as when I put him down in his cot ‘drowsy but awake’ he would immediately think it was playtime and therefore rebuking all plans of him going to sleep! The dummy really does have magical powers…. You pop it in, wait a few minutes and suddenly he’s asleep! Only problem is is that he usually spits it out once asleep and then he’ll wake up wondering where it is! This is why we end up co-sleeping as its easier to lean over to put in a fallen dummy than traipse across the hallway and have to get out of bed to put it back in!!

2. Co-sleeping. I felt that this was a bad idea on so many levels…. Firstly there was increased risk in squashing the baby, secondly it felt like it would create too much dependence and thirdly there is a fairly obvious impact to any intimacy with dear old hubby!
– in reality when MM refused to go back to sleep in his own bed at 4 months old and wanted to be held all night it was the only solution to all of us getting any sleep. Also, I don’t even think I move when I’m sleeping next to him and it’s nice to be able to hear him breathing softly next to me. Plus waking up next to his beautiful little face every morning (even if it is 5.30am) makes me smile! I assume at some point he will grow out of this and sleep all night in his own bed (currently he makes it until 1/2am in his own bed!!!)

3. Kids with snotty noses. Gross! Why can’t people just wipe their child’s face?!?!
– in reality babies hate their faces being wiped. Especially their noses! MM turns into a ninja when I try clean his face…. It is literally impossible to get near him. You have to turn it into a game and even then he screams if you do manage to wipe near the nose region. And then even when you do manage to get to it; 10 minutes later it’s snotty again. I’ve learned that some battles are just not worth it!

4. Not giving in to the baby’s every whim; it’s just going to set you up to fail in the long run right?
– in reality…. If it stops the screaming do it!! Do whatever gets you through the day (and night)

13.00 – try get baby to have a nap. I think it would be easier to obtain a physics degree (note: almost failed science at school!) End up cuddling baby with dummy in his mouth to get him to sleep #parentingfail. On the bright side managed to watch an episode of masterchef!

14.00 – baby has woken up happy. Bonus! Maybe he’ll play by himself while I do some tidying!? Place baby on playmat. Oh no what’s that you expect me to entertain you? Great! What songs do I know that don’t involve nursery rhymes? None? Ok we’ll have another rendition of ‘the wheels on the bus’!

15.00 – attempt to cook dinner ready for later. Place baby in highchair and stick down toys on the tray

15.10 – baby screams. All toys are now on the floor. That was heavy duty Velcro! How did you manage to remove it?

15.11 – make baby a bottle (did I mention he now drinks a bottle!? Hurrah!)

16.10 – baby now much happier. Clearly needed a poo! Get lots of cuddles, ‘kisses’ (I count it as a kiss when he sucks on my neck like a little vampire!), smiles and laughs!!! He’s actually the cutest, most wonderful baby in the world. Love him so much

16.45 – baby now tired. Has refused to nap all afternoon. Dummy trick didn’t work again. Also think baby is bored of me….. When will H be home? Ears hurt!

Like this:

so MM is still not 8 months yet I have already racked up about a million parenting fails… Oops!

1. I feed him to sleep. Still. I have no idea how to reverse this. Putting the baby down ‘drowsy but awake’ is like swearing in my house!
2. We end up co-sleeping at some point in the night. It’s the only way I get any decent sleep. The health visitors need not know.
3. I have dropped my phone on him. On the bright side he wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
4. I started weaning him at 5 months; I thought it would help him sleep. It didn’t!
5. I have given him chips at Nandos. He really liked them.
6. I let him play with the sky remote.
7. I let him watch TV. I *must* remember to get out of this habit before he understands what TV is.
8. H cut his fingers and made them bleed once when cutting his fingernails (thankfully this wasn’t my parenting fail!)
9. I caught his leg once while strapping him into the pram. I genuinely feel awful still about this one although once he’d had a cuddle and was stuck on the boob for a bit I don’t think he remembered.
10. He often wees in the bath and I continue to wash him. It’s sterile!
11. Speaking of sterile I never really sterilised properly. My rationale was he wasn’t bottle fed and put everything in his mouth anyway. Now he’s over 6 months you don’t technically need to so it’s all good!
12. I once drank a gin and tonic in the hope it would filter through and help the baby sleep but it made him wake more. Served me right for trying to be clever!
13. I once drove out my road before realising I hadn’t strapped the car seat in properly. Thankfully I realised!
14. I put a dirty nappy in with the washing by mistake once and didn’t re-wash the clothes…. They seemed clean enough after (and there was nothing of the baby’s!)
15. Sometimes if the baby sicks on himself I don’t bother changing him; I just wipe it off and hope he doesn’t smell of sick
16. Sometimes he only eats yoghurt and banana all day as I can’t be bothered to get him to eat real food if he’s not in the mood. I just tell myself that “food is for fun before one!”
17. I quite often spill/drop food on him if he won’t let me eat a meal without requiring holding. It’s never hot (no idea if parents ever get to eat hot meals) and I don’t think he’s ever noticed!!
18. I once left him in a poo-ey nappy most of the night as I hasn’t realised he’d poo’d!

On the bright side I’ve never left him anywhere so I’m doing better than David Cameron and I haven’t dropped him! I have been reliably informed it gets worse when they are mobile….